


The gift of thought

by Insecuriosity



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Bickering, Family Fluff, Gen, Gift Giving, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:02:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28477347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insecuriosity/pseuds/Insecuriosity
Summary: Soundwave loves his family, and he shows it every day in all the little things he does for them. One day, they decide that enough is enough: it's time to repay the favor infull force.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28
Collections: Secret Solenoid '20-'21





	The gift of thought

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kaijuboyy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaijuboyy/gifts).



Ravage sat curled up on his favourite spot, watching with half-powered optics as Frenzy and Rumble struggled to pass the first level of some human video game. Soundwave had modded his home console to be backwards compatible with video games and human media, and since then it had been effectively owned by the twins.  
Ravage’s favourite spot had been Soundwave’s working chair, once upon a time, but he had never once complained when he found Ravage already sitting in it, and eventually he had just stopped working from home altogether. (Mission: success! Though Ravage would never admit that Soundwave’s work ethic was why he had started occupying the seat in the first place.) 

Soundwave himself had a day off. Technically. In reality, a free day for Soundwave was a free day for Soundwave AND the cassettes, which meant that Soundwave had to keep a careful eye on his cassettes, or spend his free day dealing with the fallout of his cadre’s boredom.   
He had ordered them to stay in their quarters, and had promptly gone to recharge ( stomach down, to make sure that everyone knew that docking was officially off-limits for today.) Ravage didn’t mind, he could tell how tired Soundwave was, but Ratbat claimed he didn’t sleep well outside of the dock, and the twins couldn’t escape from the victims of their pranks without Soundwave as a shield to hide behind. 

Ravage flicked his tail, and glanced at the last three cassettes. Lazerbeak was in her climbing gym – some weird obstacle course that required her to climb and swing rather than use her thrusters – and Buzzsaw was doing his best to take apart one of his many toys. Ratbat was holed up in his ‘cube of darkness’, which Soundwave had padded to be soundproof and dark to help him sleep when everyone else was awake. Judging from the quiet scuffs coming from inside, he was still awake. 

Ravage lifted his head, and sent a commlink to the others, hoping they would be able to hear the ping over the twins’ yelling. //We should get something for Soundwave.//

“That’s SCRAP! I was pressing the button! This thing is _broken_!” Rumble yelled, and the re-enforced controller went flying. (Hello, fresh new dent in the wall, come meet your neighbour dents!) 

“Sure, that’s what you said about the previous controller too. And the one before that, and the one before that! I’m just better at this game,” Frenzy said through his grin. He was still playing, his cart passing by Rumble’s stationary one for a second time that round. 

Laserbeak and Buzzsaw, at least, had caught Ravage’s commlink, and Laserbeak cocked her head questioningly from where she was hanging by her landing claws. //‘Get him something?’ Where did that come from, Ravage? You hate getting people gifts, and Soundwave isn’t exactly easy to get something for.//

“What are you talking about?” Frenzy threw over his shoulder, only keeping half an eye on the game. Rumble wasn’t playing anymore, so it was only a matter of time before Frenzy abandoned the console too. “Soundwave’s the easiest person ever to get a gift for – he’s happy with anything! Remember when Ratbat was a tiny newspark, and he gave Soundwave a bunch of dead turborats?”

//Shut up about that! It was only that one time! And it was only one turborat!// Ratbat squeaked, his head popping out of his sleeping-cubby. 

“Oh yea! It was on his working station for at least half a vorn until some guy with cleaning duty got rid of it,” Rumble added gleefully. “I think that guy is _still_ on punishment detail.” 

“For real?” Frenzy chuckled, finally dropping the controller and letting his avatar come to a stop. “We should totally try and tell him that we can get Soundwave to drop it if he pranks Starscream for us-.”

Ravage ignored him, and turned his head towards his more mature siblings. //Soundwave hasn’t had a lot of free days lately, and the few days off that he _did_ have…-//

//-He spent on us,// Ratbat finished, his ears already tilted back thoughtfully. 

“Uh, he’s not spending _today_ with us,” Rumble interjected. 

//Yea, because he had to stay up late after _someone_ knocked over his ration onto his work datapad and deleted half his reports in the process,// Buzzsaw said. Laserbeak ducked her head and glared at him. 

//And if you hadn’t noticed, Soundwave is not so much enjoying his day off as he is catching up on overdue recharge and frame maintenance,// Ravage said, //Before you say anything, _Frenzy_ , leaving him alone for day is not the same as doing something nice for him.//

“With how much you think we _bother_ him? Coulda fooled me,” Frenzy replied, “But sure, whatever, get something for Soundwave. Not like we’ve got anything better to do.”

“Speak for yourself, I had plans for today,” Rumble grumbled. He went ignored.

//So Rav, did you have an idea on what to get him?// Laserbeak said. 

//I was thinking I could get him some monitoring equipment from the Ark. I know Jazz has made some purchases that aren’t strictly legal, Earth laws and otherwise, and I think Soundwave would appreciate that.//

“A _work_ related gift? Isn’t that like, a direct 360 to what this whole gift idea is about?” Rumble said.

//Well, what’s your great idea then?//

“Uhhhhh,” Rumble started, seeking optic-contact with Frenzy, “Aaaaaa-….” 

“……A dartboard!” Frenzy finished. He was met with four unimpressed stares. “… With a picture of Starscream’s face in the middle?”

//Oh! Oh! I know! We could make him a coupon book!// Ratbat squeaked enthusiastically, and his little sleeping-cubby rattled on the shelf with his jumps. //I saw some humans do it for their ‘Momandad’ – they wrote down little chores, and then Momandad could redeem them whenever they wanted!// 

//It’s a pretty good idea, but ugh… chores…// Buzzsaw clicked his beak.

//There’s no way Ravage, Rumble and Frenzy are going to do any chores either, so it’d just be two of us Ratbat,// Laserbeak added. 

//I do chores.// Ravage narrowed his eyes. 

//You do _recon_ and _spying_ , but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you swap a dust filter for as long as I’ve been alive,// Laserbeak replied.

//Um, well,// Ratbat interjected before Ravage could continue. //They – the people from the show – they also got their Momandad a ‘novelty mug’? Maybe that’s something? It was like, an energon cube, but in a weird shape with writing on it.//

//That could be something. Maybe we can get him something that won’t tip over?// Buzzsaw nipped at Laserbeak’s wing, and got an angry shriek in return. 

“Meh. I still think the dartboard is the best idea. Like c’mon, who wouldn’t want to toss sharp things at Starscream’s face?” Frenzy said. 

“Or Shockwave’s? Or Prime’s, or Blaster’s, or Jazz’s – Primus, the options are endless!” Rumble grinned. “We gotta do Frenz’s idea!”

//You’re free to get Soundwave that stupid dartboart, I’m not stopping you, but I’m going to make sure that he gets something _worthwhile_ ,// Ravage said with a sniff. He turned to Laserbeak. //I’m going to need some help sneaking into the Ark, would you care to help? I’ll put your nametag on whatever I haul back out.// 

//Pft, assuming I won’t be able to steal something way better,// Laserbeak replied, but she engaged her thrusters and dropped herself onto Ravage’s back. //I’m in.//

“You go do that and get Sounders a work gift,” Frenzy said, “Me and Rumble are going to get him something fun! Come on!” 

//We’re splitting up?// Ratbat shifted nervously, //but… I don’t-// 

//No worries Ratbat, we’ll team up to find something to give Soundwave,// Buzzsaw said, //and if we can’t find a ‘novelty muck’, we can always just hunt down a turborat or two.//

//S-shut up!// 

-

Soundwave was used to having his recharge interrupted. It was part of having a family as large as his own, and it was part of being Third in Command for the Decepticons. Either his cadre had gotten into shenanigans that required him to save them (or the unlucky mecha they’d chosen to antagonise), or there was some other Decepticon-related problem that needed his expertise.   
Soundwave couldn’t say what had woken him up this time, but there were no pings on his commline, everything was quiet, and his cassettes-… He groaned softly. There was no mistaking the air of mischief that wove through the bond, nor the concentrated focus that Ravage carried when he was on a mission. 

Soundwave should get up and comm them, to see if he had to put a stop to their plans or not. He had a handful of pending ‘high priority’ messages too, one of which came from Megatron himself, and he should sit up and respond to whatever it said.   
Instead, he pulled himself a little further onto his berth and left his messages unopened. He would deal with the consequences of leaving his cassettes and messages unattended after he’d gotten some sleep. If they were truly out for trouble, he would only have a couple more minutes of recharge to enjoy before it all came crashing down, and he intended to make the most of it. 

Soundwave kept his vizor offline, and waited for his post-recharge doze to be interrupted. A crisp five hours later, he woke up to a suspiciously quiet habsuite and a thrumming sense of anticipation in the bond he shared with his cassettes. 

He checked his inbox reflexively, but there were no screaming rants or demands that he perform corporal punishment on his cassettes. Just more of the same complaints that always managed to pile up on his days off. It seemed whatever his cassettes had done, it hadn’t gone off yet.   
He carefully got off his berth, ignoring the creaky pop in his knee joints, and stepped into the other room. His cassetttes were all waiting for him, each one of them wearing a smile and sitting around a pile of aluminium-foil wrapped boxes.

“SURPRISE!” Rumble and Frenzy shouted. 

//SURPRISE!// Said four comm channels simultaneously. Ravage was purring from his seat, his optics squeezed shut with contentment, and the others seemed to vibrate with energy. 

It took him a moment for the relevance of the wrapped boxes to sink in. Gifts? For him? “Ravage?” He said, always the first person he looked to for an answer when he couldn’t find it for himself. 

“You’ve been working very hard. I felt that we should show you how much we appreciate you, and everything you do for us.” Ravage replied, letting his purr sound through his voice and kneading his claws into the padding of the chair he had claimed for himself. 

Soundwave was speechless, and before he could re-discover his vocabulary, Ratbat had already launched himself at his chestplates, clutching a tangle of scrap in his claws. 

//Me first! Me first!// He squeaked excitedly as he struggled to land on Soundwave without dropping the tangle. //It’s a coupon book! It was my idea, but Buzzy helped me put it together, so it’s from me and Buzzsaw!//

Soundwave took the tangle and cupped his hand under Ratbat, before squinting at the glyphs that had been messily scratched into the metal. ‘Free massage coupon!’ read the first one. ‘Full habsuite cleaning coupon (one use!)’ said the second. The third one had been attached the wrong way around, and, once Soundwave had rotated it, read ‘Free hug! (infinite use)’. 

Buzzsaw hopped from one box to another, and briefly flared his wings. //The better-… I mean, _my_ ideas are more at the back.// 

“Okay wait time’s over it’s OUR turn!” Frenzy yelled, pulling one of the bottom boxes out of the gift-tower and sending the rest cascading down onto the floor – leaving Buzzsaw to squawk indignantly as he lost his perch. By the time the gift found itself in Soundwave’s hands, most of the ‘wrapping’ had already been torn off. A picture of Starscream’s self-assured smirk peered back at him through the gaps.

Soundwave reset his visor, and peeled off another part of the wrapping. The picture of Starscream remained, now joined by a picture of a rather stiff looking Shockwave. There were little holes poked into both pictures, at seemingly random places.

“It’s a DARTBOARD!” Frenzy revealed, his vizor sparkling with joy. “It’s this human game where you take sharp objects, and you throw them at the picture-board, and if it hits the person you’re the most angry with you get double points!” 

Rumble held up a different box. “We collected some sharp stuff and different pictures to get you started too! Now, when Starscream’s being a rude slagger, you can just toss things at his face to get it out of your system!” 

// _Or_ he can use one of his coupons!// Buzzsaw said proudly, //There’s a ‘surprise cassette divebomb’ coupon in there! One of my ideas, of course.//

“… Soundwave: very touched.” Soundwave said. He was fairly sure the fallout of asking Buzzsaw to divebomb someone was not going to be worth the trouble, and he suspected his cassette would do as he asked even if there was no coupon to speak of, but his spark was warm and light in his chest. 

“Laserbeak and I took it upon ourselves to get you something more practical.” Ravage purred, and he pointed his muzzle towards a large chunk of Ark-coloured communications equipment, poorly covered up with aluminium foil. “One of Jazz’s hand-made contraptions. I don’t know whether it works, but he’ll be ticked off that it’s gone none the less.”

//Hey, half of what’s under there is _my_ gift!// Laserbeak added with fake affrontment. //I ducked into Red Alert’s place and stole one of his prized codeword folders!// 

Soundwave pulled the aluminium foil off the assorted equipment, and bled an appropriate amount of amazement into his bond with his cassettes. It was likely that Red Alert had already replaced all of the code words in the folder ( a physical non-digitized folder, how quaint ), but the mech would be on edge for weeks to come, and a contraption from Jazz was always valuable. They had gone through so much effort for him!   
He reached out to examine one of the pieces, only for Ratbat to grab a hold of his index finger and try to drag him back towards the pile of presents. 

//Okay now it’s our turn again!// Ratbat said, doing his best to steer Soundwave from his spot in the crook of Soundwave’s arm. //Come on! Buzzy and I worked really hard to get you this!// 

//Ratbat! Ravage and I were still showing him our gift!// Laserbeak squawked. 

“Just let him give Soundwave the mug already! The sooner he’s done, the sooner Rumble and I can show him the _fun_ stuff!” Frenzy said. 

//I’d prefer it if Soundwave actually got the time to see what we got him, actually, and as a bonus maybe you could finally learn some patience!// Ravage hissed. 

//Frenzy SHH! You spoiled what my gift was!// Ratbat flapped his wings angrily.

// _Your_ gift?// Buzzsaw interjected, joining in with the angry flapping. // _I_ had to track down all the metal and get away from those annoying humans!// 

“Ugh, don’t start complaining, now it’ll take even longer!” Rumble whined 

Soundwave quickly intervened before the argument could gain traction. “Soundwave: Thankful.” He said, pulsing the truth of that statement through their bond as much as he could. “Soundwave: … values Cassettes over everything. Gifts: appreciated. But… Soundwave: would rather spend quality time with Cassettes. Soundwave: Will open gifts over coming days. Soundwave: will give each gift appropriate attention. Affirmative?” 

There was a moment of silence, before Laserbeak chirruped from deep within her chassis. //Aw, Soundwave…// She sent over the comms. 

“…Does that mean you’re actually gonna throw sharp stuff at Starscream’s face with us?” Frenzy said, his voice thick with excitement. 

//Oh! Soundwave could use one of m- our coupons to get a drink for his new mug!// Ratbat hopped excitedly. 

//I’d love to help you puzzle out what exactly we stole from Jazz and Red Alert,// Ravage purred, and Laserbeak nodded. 

“Then: matter settled.” Soundwave said, “Soundwave: will start with board. ‘Mug’ with drink: to follow. Finally: decoding enemy intel with Ravage and Laserbeak. Tomorrow, rest of gifts.”

“YESS! Oh my God, where’s that picture of Blitzwing – I need to see Soundwave nail him in the face with something-” Frenzy yelped, and Rumble nearly tripped over himself in his haste to attach the board to the wall. 

//But that’ll take a long time, won’t it?// Ratbat pouted. //I want to show you the gifts now!//

“Soundwave: Will see gifts soon.” Soundwave stroked Ratbat’s head, and let his appreciation of his cassettes bleed into their bond. “Ratbat: would like to help throw sharp things?” 

Ratbat perked up a little bit. //Yes please!//

“Ooh, maybe you and Buzzy could hold up the board and fly around to make hitting it harder?” Rumble said, “That would save me from trying to pin this damn thing to the wall, as a bonus.”

“Stupid, the whole idea is that you’re hitting the face of someone you hate. Making it hard to land a shot just defeats the whole purpose,” Frenzy shot back before Soundwave could open his mouth to forbid it. 

//And here I was looking _forward_ to being pelted with knives,// Buzzsaw said sarcastically. 

Soundwave softly tossed Ratbat into the air, and went to help his twin terrors with pinning up the board. He was fairly sure that at the end of the day, his habsuite would be a terrible mess and his wall would sport a large number of dents – but nothing could ruin his mood now. He would never ask his cassettes for gifts of appreciation, and it made their sudden gifts all the sweeter.   
He had fun throwing knives at Starscream’s face, and dissecting the latest technical marvel that Jazz had concocted. He took a sip from his new ‘Best Tapedeck #1’ mug, and scratched behind Laserbeak’s head as they watched a movie that she had stolen from Blaster’s entertainment hub. 

Soundwave was fairly sure that both Blaster and Jazz would take their revenge on him for his cassettes’ theft, but for this joy – this sensation of being appreciated – it was all worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New years! And a Happy Solenoid to my Giftee; Kaijuboyy@twitter! I hope I made something you could enjoy, it was quite challenging for me, so I worked hard to include as many things as possible from your list! I had a lot of fun with the dynamic between all of the cassettes, and of course with our loving overworked Dad of a Soundwave! I hope 2021 will be a great year for you!


End file.
